 A: "Closed" means that we do not show our cats. This is for several reasons, but mostly because we are concerned about our cats picking up some pathogen at the cat shows. "Underfoot" means that we raise our kittens in our home and do not use cages. This ensures that they are well socialized and used to living in a domestic household. A: SeeSpots Bengal Cattery's purpose is to provide funding and animal husbandry experience for SeeSpots Conservation Society by breeding domestic Bengal cats. A: SeeSpots Conservation Society is an idea. We hope to make easily repeatable systems and a support network for them. These systems will have different purposes, for example, training, fund raising, and increasing the numbers of endangered plants and animals. Many of these systems will be modeled on already existing ones. SeeSpots Bengal Cattery is the first of these systems. A: Different members of SeeSpots have different skills and experience. We have many years of animal husbandry experience and four years of Bengal breeding as of spring 2009. A: "Improving the breed" means that is a breeder's responsibility to carefully select for good temperament and conformity to the Bengal Breed Standard. Many breeders fail to do this and their stock degrades quite quickly. A: In order for a kitten to be registered, at least the previous five generations must have been registered with The International Cat Association (TICA). All the breeders of these five generations must comply with the "TICA Voluntary Code of Ethics" (which is not voluntary at all by the way). A: Experience: I have learned that many Bengals benefit from at least some raw meat in their diet. | A: No. Well... yes and no. The Bengal Breed Standard states: "The Bengal should be large but smaller than the largest breeds." It then goes on to say that females can be much smaller than males and this is allowed. "Foundation Bengals" (F1, F2,) can be very large, but with this size comes many complications: the necessity of bottle feeding, the high risk of sterility, the high instance of C-sections, etc. Thus they come with a hefty price tag. The Bengals we sell are large but lean cats that often do not look as big as they feel when you pick them up. A: Three reasons. One, be believe our customers are not stupid and they know that we would just pass the cost of the kit on to them in the end. Two, as much as we would like to be generous, we want to minimize the chances of pathogens being brought into the kittens new home from its old one. That is why we do not give kennels for the trip home, of course we have old kennels kicking about but they are not clean, it is best to bring one (or a cardboard box) from a sterile environment. Three, we have learned that people are picky. They want a certain style, a certain color, etc so it is pointless to give people something that they will not even use. A: Not as such. We contact other breeders and people that we know to be waiting for a kitten when a new litter is born. At about one month of age, it is possible to evaluate the kittens and then we list them for sale. The kittens are ready to go to their new homes at three months of age. A: No. If the male is sterilized, he is likely to be more affectionate than a female, there is a lot of variation between individuals though. The most important difference with the Bengal breed is size. The males can be quite a bit bigger than the females, this is allowed for in the breed standard. Q: Why don't you have a professionally designed website? A: Because we do not want to put the updating of content under the control of "some web designer" we want to be able to update our website easily and with no "middle man". One day, perhaps someone with web design experience will join us and take on that responsibility but even then we foresee our website evolving into more of a collaborative "wiki" than a sleek, sales orientated website. Q: I want to get a kitten while it is still quite small, can I take my kitten home early? |
Call: 778-378-2904 or Emali: SeeSpots@gmail.com |
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